Written Answers Thursday 11 January 2007

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what account it is taking of the debate within the veterinary profession on the use of slaughter as a disease control measure.

Ross Finnie: Where laboratory analysis confirms the presence of exotic disease such as foot-and-mouth disease or avian influenza, EU legislation requires the culling of susceptible animals on infected premises and on dangerous contacts.

  The Executive and State Veterinary Service work closely with the veterinary profession and the continuing development of disease control policy takes into account both the views expressed within the veterinary profession and the evolving science base.

Data Protection Act 1998

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it is acceptable for a local authority to proactively seek information from tenants in relation to their particular tenancies, in light of the terms of the Executive’s guidance notes for local authorities on private landlord registration and the Data Protection Act 1998.

Des McNulty: It is for each local authority to decide how to gather evidence to satisfy itself that applicants for landlord registration are fit and proper. In doing so they must ensure that they act in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Scottish Executive’s guidance notes on landlord registration recommend a light-touch approach, in which authorities refer to any existing information they hold about the applicant, including any complaints made to the authority by tenants. The guidance does not suggest that authorities should proactively seek information from tenants in relation to individual applications.

Dental Health

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it proposes to cut waiting times for orthodontic treatment in the Highlands.

Lewis Macdonald: We have asked NHS Highland to submit a plan to show how it will reduce waits for orthodontics and achieve a maximum waiting time of 26 weeks by 2007-08.

  In the meantime, we have provided an additional £250,000 in capital and £60,000 in revenue funding to help Highland reduce orthodontic waiting times during the current financial year, and I understand that NHS Highland expect to increase treatment lists through expanding physical capacity and appointing a locum consultant from 15 February 2007.

Dentistry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the adult population were registered with an NHS dentist in Aberdeen and Scotland in 1997 and in 2006.

Lewis Macdonald: Dentists registered 52% of Scottish adults as NHS patients in 1997, and 47% in 2006. Equivalent figures are not collected by local authority area.

Environment

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive how it calculates the environmental impact of energy use in Scotland.

Ross Finnie: Estimates of emissions associated with energy production and use are produced, including those published annually in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in the Scottish Energy Study published by the Executive last year.

  Proposals for new individual energy plants are subject to Environmental Impact Assessments. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also licenses and monitors the emissions of certain pollutants from individual facilities.

Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have not yet completed audits of community greenspace and when all such audits will be completed and published.

Des McNulty: Up-to-date information is not currently held by the Executive. The consultation draft SPP 11 on Physical Activity and Open Space contains proposals to require local authorities to carry out an audit if they haven’t done so already. They will also be required to advise the Executive both when their open space audit has been completed and when an open space strategy has been finalised.

Environment

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how the funding scheme to promote household composting will operate in urban areas without gardens.

Ross Finnie: Home composting schemes are primarily designed for houses with gardens but the home composting scheme run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme also includes wormeries and food digesters which can be used in the home.

  We are also planning food waste collection trials from households, with the food waste being composted centrally.

Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association in relation to the provision of specialist motor neurone disease nursing staff in hospitals.

Mr Andy Kerr: The employment of specialist nurses is a matter for NHS boards, as part of their responsibility for making sure that the health care needs of their local populations are met.

  The Executive has had discussions with the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association about the setting up of a national managed clinical network, since a key element of the network approach is about making most effective use of existing staff resources.

Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it places on ensuring that patients who suffer from chronic conditions receive continuing support for their illness when admitted to hospital to receive treatment for unrelated conditions.

Mr Andy Kerr: It is essential that those admitted to hospital should receive not only the treatment needed to manage the cause of admission, but also that they should continue to receive the regular treatment they need in relation to all other long-term conditions with which they may be living.

Health

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost was of training a (a) doctor, (b) nurse, (c) physiotherapist and (d) speech and language therapist for the period between entering a degree or diploma course until full registration, inclusive of tuition, bursary and salary support costs, in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Andy Kerr: A. Doctors

  The training for a doctor until full registration generally consists of five years at medical school and one year in employment (now called Foundation Year 1). In the period between entry to medical school and full registration, the approximate cost of training a doctor is £219,000. It should be noted that doctors generally continue training after full registration. The type and length of post-registration training is different for each doctor and the cost between individuals can vary markedly.

  B. Nurses

  There are several routes into nurse training and different types of funding support. The approximate cost of a nurse undertaking a typical three year diploma course is £38,000.

  C. Physiotherapists and D. Speech and Language Therapists

  Information on the average cost of training a physiotherapist and speech and language therapist is not held centrally. However, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists are included in the Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) group. Using the available data for AHPs, the approximate cost of a four year training course is £37,000.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated demand is for affordable housing in the East Kilbride constituency.

Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The information requested is not held centrally.

Local Government

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it received representations from Dumfries and Galloway Council requesting that Ward 13, Annandale East, be renamed to include "Eskdale" in its title in the Dumfries and Galloway (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (SSI 2006/434) and, if so, what its reasons were for not agreeing to this request.

Mr Tom McCabe: Yes, representations were received from Dumfries and Galloway Council on 7 July 2006 requesting Ward 13 be renamed "Eskdale". I regret this was overlooked by officials.

  Dumfries and Galloway Council did not make representations to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland that the ward be renamed "Eskdale" during the public consultation process.

Local Government

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Dumfries and Galloway (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (SSI 2006/434) could be withdrawn and replaced in time for the local government elections in 2007.

Mr Tom McCabe: The process for revoking or varying the Order is complex and set out in section 26 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The varying order must be prepared in draft form and copies sent to the local or public authorities and community councils concerned, and public notice must be given. Representations may then be made within two months of the publication of the notice. I would then need to consider any representations made, and if I think fit, make an order either in the form of the draft or subject to modifications. Given the time issues involved, I do not intend to revisit the order prior to the election. However, this does not preclude a review of this in the future.

NHS Hospitals

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to select patients for treatment at Stracathro Hospital and how the criteria will differ from those for patients treated by the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: Available information on patient selection criteria is set out in Annex 3 to Schedule 6 of the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre Services Agreement as published on the NHS Tayside website at:

  http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/cap_projects/det_projects/srtc/index.shtml

  These criteria were developed with clinicians to maximise patient safety.

NHS Hospitals

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients treated at Stracathro Hospital will be included in the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality.

Mr Andy Kerr: I can confirm that the Stracathro Regional Treatment Centre Services Agreement requires the provider to participate in the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality.

NHS Hospitals

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the composition of the workforce of Stracathro Hospital will be, detailing (a) who the employers will be, (b) what the professional background of the employees will be, (c) what the contractual status of the employees will be, (d) what the total size of the workforce will be and (e) what percentage of the workforce will be (i) employed on permanent contracts and (ii) agency staff, broken down by speciality.

Mr Andy Kerr: Available information relating to the workforce at the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre at Stracathro Hospital is provided in Annex 1 to Schedule 13 of the Services Agreement  as published on the NHS Tayside website at:

  http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/cap_projects/det_projects/srtc/index.shtml

National Health Service

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by each NHS board on foreign language interpreters in each of the last five years, broken down by language.

Mr Andy Kerr: The provision of foreign language interpreters is a matter for individual health boards, including where this is necessary to ensure clinicians can treat patients appropriately in compliance with our obligations under European Treaty and reciprocal health agreements. Information on the cost of providing these services is not held centrally.

Planning

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that ministers determining applications under the planning or electricity legislation do not act under an actual or perceived conflict of interest when its departments or agencies have grant-aided work to develop, assess or justify the development proposals under consideration.

Des McNulty: Decisions on planning applications coming before the Scottish ministers are taken by the planning minister, or a nominee, on an individual basis, rather than by Scottish ministers collectively. In taking a decision the planning minister will have regard to the provisions of the development plan and the determination will be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. It is open to the planning minister to consider all matters that are drawn to his attention, provided they are of relevance, in land use planning terms, to the determination of the application.

  Other ministers or Executive departments or agencies with a particular interest in a proposal, for example through grant aided work, should not attempt to influence the decision making process. Ministers may, however, draw the planning minister’s attention to the views of their electorate. Paragraphs 6.7 to 6.12 of the Scottish Ministerial Code are of relevance as is the guidance contained in paragraph 1.3 of the Guide to Collective Decision making.

  Scottish ministers have a statutory duty under the Electricity Act 1989 to consult the relevant planning authorities and also Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations. The Deputy Minister for Enterprise adopts a similar role to that of the planning minister in determining applications made under the Electricity Act, having full regard to all the facts relating to the application including any advice offered by both statutory and non-statutory consultees.

Public Transport

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to guided busway development across Scotland.

Tavish Scott: Capital resources amounting to £35 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08 have been allocated to regional transport partnerships towards their transport priorities, which could include the provision of guided busways.

  The West Edinburgh guided busway which opened in December 2004 was funded from the closed Public Transport Fund to the extent of £6.6 million.

  The recently published Bus Action Plan will aim to deliver a step change in the provision of bus services. It will feature a review of Scottish government funding mechanisms to ensure that resources are directed at improving the quality and reliability of services and at enhancing bus infrastructure, including bus passenger priority measures such as guided busways.

Schools

Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the next round of capital funding for the building of new schools will be made available to local authorities.

Hugh Henry: Current plans will see schools continuing to be built and refurbished to the end of this decade, with substantial funding in place to support this through a combination of public private partnership projects, the recently increased Schools Fund capital grant, and local authority borrowing. Further financial support for school buildings would be a matter for the next Spending Review.

Statistics

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S2W-30425 by Mr Tom McCabe on 15 December 2006, what the nature has been of the work that the Executive has undertaken closely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics on the Statistics and Registration Service Bill.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive has been liaising closely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with regards to statistics reform over the last year.

  There were early discussions of the options for statistics reform at the UK level. And the Executive was consulted around the wording, in respect of devolved administrations, for the HM Treasury UK wide consultation Independence for Statistics.

  Initial discussions on the Statistics and Registration Service Bill explored the practical arrangements and the wording of the bill to reflect Scotland’s inclusion in the bill or Scotland’s possible exclusion from the bill.

  Once the Cabinet decision to join the UK arrangements had been taken the Executive focussed on working with HM Treasury to ensure that the provisions of the bill were appropriate for Scotland’s inclusion.

  Specific provisions secured from this work include one non-executive member of the Statistics Board, created by the bill, to be appointed after consultation with Scottish ministers and the board must lay an annual report before the Scottish Parliament.

  The Executive continues to liaise with HM Treasury and ONS as the Bill progresses, sharing information on developments such as the Executive consultation Improving Statistical Services in Scotland and the future practical arrangements for the implementation of the bill.